


Could You Do It?

by FarbautisDottir (Krekta)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Irish Mythology, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: All Magic Comes With a Price, Amputation, Death, Gen, Irish Mythology - Freeform, Magic, Magical Procedures, Medical Procedures, Prothetics, Responsibility, Snide Remarks, War, verbal sniping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 07:02:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4951069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krekta/pseuds/FarbautisDottir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky has a question for Loki. The answer he gets is not a straight one, naturally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Could You Do It?

'How can I assist you, Mr. Barnes?'

'I was wondering . . . you're a magician? Could you fix my arm, re-grow it?'

'It would be necessary to remove the prosthetic first.'

'Yeah, I suppose it might . . . '

'That in itself could cause your death. I cannot 'fix' death, and I imagine your Captain would be quite cross at me if you were to die.'

'He does hold a grudge, true enough.'

'Why do you ask?'

'The arm makes me different. I'll never be able to integrate while it's like it is.'

'Do you truly wish to integrate, Mr. Barnes?'

'Course I do! Why wouldn't I?'

'Your fellow Avengers seem to enjoy the notoriety their differences bring them.'

'Maybe I don't want to be notorious. Bad reps stick, and the arm is a feature of the Soldier. I'm not him any more.'

'You were, though. You killed to order, indiscriminately and without thought or mercy. Wouldn't you miss your reminder of those days?'

'That's nasty, and you know it, Loki. I know what I've done . . .'

'Your comrades are keen to pretend you were 'not yourself' when you committed those heinous acts of war. Are you?'

'Like you just said, I was at war. Hydra made me into a weapon and then they used me to further their ends.'

'Your war was undeclared. People died without knowing why, innocents as well as enemies.'

'I know that, and I regret every one of those deaths.'

'Why? Is it not part of your defence that 'guns doesn't kill people, only people kill people'? Isn't that the basis the defence you are trying to build – that you were not a person then?'

'None of us are people to you, are we? We're just fleas. Just ants under your boot, Fury said.'

'You are getting angry, Mr. Barnes.'

'You are avoiding the question, Mr. Odinson.'

'I am not Odin's son. I never was!'

'Now you seem angry. . . We _all_ have sore spots. and I reckon you are one of the best at picking off the scabs, but I didn't come here for the fun of the verbal sparring. Could you do it?'

'Perhaps, if your mortal physicians could remove the prosthesis and keep you from dying of either the shock or the blood loss prior to my engaging in the process of restoration. It would not be a guaranteed success though, a lot would depend on your personality and determination to live and be well again.'

'I'm like Steve – the Captain – they stuffed me full of the super soldier serum . . . a variation on it anyway. I can take more damage and I heal quicker than normal people do'

'That would not be relevant where magical restoration of a limb is concerned. There needs to be a willingness to flourish, to again fill up and reclaim the pattern, the framework, your body once had. Do you not wish to rid of your super powers as well as your mechanical appendage, though, Mr. Barnes, all the better to _integrate?/'_

'You want to fast-forward me to my real age while you're at it? The serum is an advantage, the arm isn't.' 

'I believe at least one Avenger would disagree with that assessment. Stark is seething with desire to learn it's secrets. And Banner has doubtless already taken samples of your blood and tested it to see it can be of use in resolving his own aberration of form. And does your beloved Captain consider the serum advantageous, when he lies abed mourning his lost loved ones and pining for the simplicity of your birth era? 

'Go away, Mr. Barnes. Contemplate more carefully why it is you have asked me to change you. Contemplate whether you would gain from the exercise what it is you have told yourself will come from giving up your enhanced limb. Too, consider that there would be a cost to me in performing such powerful magic and what price I might ask?. . . I also suggest you read the tales of the Irish concerning King Nuada' 

_With that, he was gone, in his trademark puff of green smoke._

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written as an exercise in forming dialogue without using speech tags and modifiers, since editors find them to be anathaema these days. I personally think the editors are wrong, sometimes such things are essential to keep things straight in the readers' heads. This is especially true when more than two people are conversing at once. For what it is, I think this works, though. I hope you find it a story worth reading, not just a piece of dialogue without context. Let me know what you think please, especially if you are a pro editor!


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